Aiming devices, such as weapon sights, are well known in the art. Conventional non-optical aiming devices generally include two sights mounted on the weapon, a rear sight and a front sight. Both sights and the target, a total of three points, must be aligned with the user's eye in a straight line for accurate shooting. Aligning three points with the eye is a task which can be cumbersome and tiring.
Optical sights which overcome the problem of aligning three points are known, such as sights manufactured by C-More, Manassas, Va. USA, which are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,369,888 and 5,383,278. Many laser sights are also known.
Another optical sight is the one manufactured by InterAims of Sweden under the tradename One V. Such a sight employs a laser diode which produces a red light which passes through a dichroic beam splitter. Red light is reflected towards the target and perceived by the user as a red dot. Rays in the rest of the visible light spectrum pass to the user's eye. The user only has to line up two points with his eye: the red dot and the target.
The red dot system has some drawbacks. It requires an electrical power source, and is relatively expensive, large in size and weight. A bright light source near the target makes it difficult to discern the red dot. It is extremely difficult to discern the red dot when aiming on a red background, and in any case there is color transmission distortion.